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One year ago, Pinterest had a pioneering debut of Cinematic Pins. These are user-controlled Promoted Pins that are video based. They stand out from similar advertising techniques because they can be controlled as the user scrolls up and down on their smart devices.

Last summer, during its release, Pinterest swore that these Pins would yield excellent results for brand partners and based on new data available by Millward Brown it would seem that they have delivered on this promise.

Last year, during the months of September and November, L’Oréal Paris initiated a campaign using both the cinematic looping-video format and standard Promoted Pins to launch a new line of highlighters, True Match Lumi Glow Illuminator. The Pins were used to show consumers the application techniques for the products.

“Because this was a new product category for us, we wanted to elevate our typical launch strategy and actually show how the Lumi Glow Highlighter can accentuate our customer’s best features,”

Amy Whang, vice president of cosmetics at L’Oréal Paris, said.

“Our audience is there to shop and discover new beauty products, not just scroll for fun, enabling us to capture them in a consideration mindset when they are further down the marketing funnel,”

Kristen Comings, vice president at L’Oréal Paris and president of integrated consumer communications, said in a press statement.

The beauty brand conducted its own research on the success of the Cinematic Pins and the results spoke for themselves. According to the study results posted the Pins increased purchase intent by 37.2% while simultaneously boosting brand awareness by 30.7%.

This was compared to the static Promoted Pins, which increased purchase intent by 30.9% and boosted product awareness by 21.3%. Video magic was truly made possible as Amy Whang boasted.

“We chose Pinterest as our next marketing platform because it let us hone in on our millennial audience during key decision-making moments, especially when they are planning menus or activities during the football season,”

commented Connie Kwok, digital manager of Hershey’s U.S. brands, in a released statement.

In the assessment study it was found that 25% of people who viewed a Pinterest ad were more likely to purchase Reese’s products within the following month than people who weren’t exposed to the Cinematic Pins. Furthermore, Promoted Pins increased the believability of the slogan, “Reese’s is fun to eat,” by 11%.

Chris Corley, executive creative director at VML, chimed in that the motion-powered video ads offer a ton of creative opportunities for clients like Wendy’s, who was the first brand to undertake a campaign with Pinterest Cinematic Pins last year.

Corley further commented,

“When the creative is done right, fans want to spend time interacting with and taking control of the content, which builds awareness and affinity for the brand in a way that other video units can’t.”

However, he added that Pinterest’s reporting capabilities for advertisers were limited especially when Pinterest piloted the Wendy’s campaign and said the “results were somewhat inconclusive in terms of impact.” This may be a hindrance in the success of Pinterest Cinematic Pins.

These case studies are some of the first to be released by Pinterest. The company has to compete with advertising giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter but their chances are fruitful since their design is more creative and unique than their competition.

Competition is tough, especially with the growing number of video platforms battling for brands’ budget, but Pinterest is in it to win it.

“Pinterest is still figuring out how other types of video units will fit within their platform and user experience,” quipped Corley. “We consider the Cinematic Pins to be a valuable piece of the video puzzle for Wendy’s and are still a unique way for our audience to experience and interact with our content that differs from the video experience on other platforms.

We plan to create more of these units for upcoming campaigns.” If Pinterest solves these kinks, the success of their Cinematic Pins will increase and they will pioneer a new era of online advertising.

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